The Half-Breed Dragonborn: Familial Tes
by bellydancer10
Summary: Yasmina is a half Nord and mer who goes on a journey to study at the College of Winterhold, but really wanting to find her biological father. However, she is sidetracked when she discovers she is the Dragonborn, but her journey as Dragonborn gets her one step closer to discovering about her heritage.


**A/N: Hi, my name is bellydancer and this is my first ever Elder Scrolls, so please go gently with me.**

**First, I would like to give a shout out to QuietBlondeOne for giving me advice and definitely to my friend who helped me with this story. It took a lot of time and effort into researching more on the lore of the Elder Scrolls and trying to perfect this, so thank you to you both.**

**This chapter does have mention of rape, so tread carefully if that makes you queasy.**

**Summary: Yasmina, who is half Nord and half elf, has always lived in the province of Cyrodiil with her adopted parents until one day, she decides to go to Skyrim and study at the College of Winterhold along with a cynical bodyguard her parents hired for him to protect her. Wanting nothing more than to find her biological father and find out more about her heritage, she tries to find him, but becomes sidetracked when she discovers she is the legendary Nord hero the Dragonborn. But her journey in order to defeat Alduin the World Eater gets her one step closer to discovering about her heritage than she ever realized.**

**Rating: M due to violence, language, sexuality, nudity, references to sexuality, and racism.**

**I do not own anything from Bethesda, everything in here belongs to them, except for my OCs.**

**Hope you enjoy it!**

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_**Chapter One: Orphaned Baby**_

**Morning Star, 4E 184**

It was a late night one winter. The moon was full and there were signs of snow just passing as there were patches of them here and there on the ground, and it was a cold night up north in the province of Cyrodiil if there was anybody near the border of the harsh lands of Skyrim. The wind howled as it moved the trees and their branches, making people shiver in the night in the cold if they were out in the wilderness. Wolves could be heard howling in the wind, causing many night critters to go into hiding for fear of becoming a midnight snack to one of the predators.

Most people in Cyrodiil would normally stay out of the wilderness this late at night or if they were out in the wilderness, they would camp somewhere in an area where no one could see them. There were packs of wolves, bandits, and vampires that roamed around the area, and there was always a risk of being ambushed by either one of those groups, so most people tried to stay away from the wilderness during the night. There were only two people, though, who were walking out late at night in the wilderness.

They were two Dunmer who were from the city of Cheydinhal, one was younger looking with jet black hair that was in a low ponytail with some strands falling in front of his face while the other one looked older with brown hair that was graying at the top of his head and his face having more wrinkle lines on it. Some people may call them crazy, brave, or even stupid for walking in the wilderness this late at night with the risk of a possible ambush, but these two Dunmer were capable warriors and were able to handle anything that came their way.

The two Dunmer were walking late at night in the wilderness, each having their own reason. The older Dunmer was looking for some snowberries for his wife for her alchemy ingredient for her alchemy shop. The younger Dunmer, though, was just accompanying him for protection when the older Dunmer's wife had pleaded him to take someone along with him. Even though the older Dunmer had explained to his wife that he was a capable warrior and could take care of himself, she persisted and so he decided to take a companion with him just to make her feel better.

The older Dunmer smiled fondly as he thought about his wife back in Cheydinhal in her alchemy shop and their house most likely sleeping. For a Dunmer woman, she was really sweet, but was also fierce when people brought out that side of her. The older Dunmer's thoughts are then interrupted by the sound of his companion complaining.

"Urgh, I really don't understand why we could not make camp earlier, Athelyn. How can you keep walking out here with it being so dark and know where you are going?"

Athelyn responded by looking at him over his shoulder and smirking. "I know where I am going, I have been down here plenty of times, even on darker nights than this," he said. "The full moon gives us plenty of light to guide us. Don't tell me the famous Seryn Varen, the fierce mercenary, is afraid of the dark?"

The younger Dunmer named Seryn glared at him for the jab.

"Of course I am not afraid of the dark, I just don't understand why we couldn't make camp and get the snowberries in daylight."

"We would not have been very far from the area even if we did camp earlier," Athelyn explained. "Besides, I want to leave back to Cheydinhal and get back to my wife as soon as possible. I worry for her…"

Seryn then gave Athelyn an understanding look when he realized what he was talking about as a look of sorrow crossed Athelyn's face.

Casien Drelas was the only son and child of Athelyn and Lilinah and also Seryn's best friend. He became a battlemage for the Imperial Legion when the Great War broke out back in 171. His parents begged him not to go, but Casien had reasoned with them and told them he would not sit idly by and let the Thalmor walk all over them and destroy everything that he holds dear to him. Seryn did not go with him because he did not want to get involved unless it was financially beneficial for him. Wars did not give him money to keep a roof over his head or feed him. So Casien left for the war, and his family and Seryn never saw him again. For the first two years Casien was gone, a courier would come to Cheydinhal a few times with a letter from him to his family, but the letters suddenly stopped coming for the third year he had left to war. Athelyn, Lilinah, and Seryn feared the worst, but they hoped for the best as well. It was not until the war ended that they finally heard something about Casien.

It was the year 176 when an Imperial soldier came to Cheydinhal and came to Athelyn and Lilinah's house, telling them what became of their son, and what they heard broke their hearts. Casien and his fellow soldiers were camping when they were suddenly ambushed by the Thalmor. Caught by surprise, Casien and the soldiers were defeated and were given an ultimatum: accept the Altmer as their rightful rulers or be killed. Casien was one of the first who refused and, therefore, was beheaded before his body was burned along with the rest who refused.

Seryn had never seen Athelyn and Lilinah so broken before and ever since then, he has hated the Thalmor even more. Casien was almost like a brother to him and to have him taken away from the Thalmor, just as the Red Mountain Eruption and the Argonian invasion did with his friends and family, was painful. And the fact that Casien never got the chance to have a traditional Dunmer burial, just like his parents wanted, and would never see him again was heartbreaking. Athelyn and Lilinah never quite got over it yet since Casien was their only child.

Seryn then offers a comforting hand on Athelyn's shoulder and says, "Lilinah will be alright, she is a strong woman."

He did not think his comfort would be enough, but it seemed to help as Athelyn gave him a look of gratitude. "Thank you, my brother, that means a lot to me," he said.

"We should keep moving, we are almost there and I don't want us to stay out here too late."

The two Dunmer went up the path towards their destination in silence the rest of the way. When they finally reached their destination, Seryn is relieved that he would be able to rest soon. The journey from Cheydinhal to here had been a long one. He may used to traveling long distances, being a hired mercenary, but a mer still needed his rest.

Athelyn must have been relieved too because he sounded happy when he spotted the snowberry shrub.

"Ah, there it is."

He then bends down near the bush and takes out a knife from his boot before cutting out a few of the snowberries from the shrub. Seryn, who was anxious to leave so he could rest, did not even notice Athelyn become tense once he pocketed the snowberries.

"Alright, we got what we came for, let's head back east and make camp."

Before he could even move, Athelyn had grabbed his wrist firmly, preventing him from moving and nearly startling him.

"Athelyn, what is it?"

"Shh!" Athelyn immediately says before asking quietly, "Do you hear anything?"

Seryn stops and listens and when he hears nothing, he says so.

"Exactly, it is _too_ quiet."

Realizing what Athelyn meant, Seryn concluded that there was danger nearby. When the forest was deathly quiet, it meant there was danger nearby to a warrior.

Both Dunmer took out their weapons, Athelyn taking out his one-handed sword while Seryn took out his two ebony blades. They were now alert and looking and hearing for any signs of danger that was in the thickness of the dark forest.

It was then there was a noise to the two Dunmer's right. Voices were heard from the distance and up ahead, they could see a glow up ahead. Athelyn and Seryn made eye contact with each other, both of them wondering if it was bandits up ahead. Seryn made a move to look ahead, but before he could even move, there was a different sound that was coming straight towards them. It was coming towards them really fast, and Seryn was getting ready to defend himself when Athelyn suddenly grabbed him and pulled him towards the left, hiding behind a nearby large tree that hid them both well.

Seryn snarled at Athelyn, about to ask why he pulled him behind this tree when Athelyn covered his mouth and put a finger to his lips. Seryn still wondered why he pulled him here when he heard the sound of someone come into the area where they were, stopping and breathing heavily, trying to catch a breath as if it had been running for a long time. Seryn and Athelyn looked around the tree, making sure to not be seen, to see who or what had came and was surprised at what they saw. It was a woman—a Nord woman from what they could tell. From what they could see with the little light in the forest, she had blonde hair, was pale, and tall, which lead to them thinking she was Nord. She was crouching behind one of the trees across from where they were, and Seryn realized, as he observed the Nord woman more closely, why Athelyn dragged him and hid them behind this tree. He must have seen the woman come beforehand and seen she was no immediate threat, but did not want to cause any reason to scare her even more as she seemed now, so he hid them behind the tree.

The woman was weaponless and was breathing heavily, clutching onto a bundle for dear life as if it was the most important thing to her. She jumped when the voices Seryn and Athelyn heard earlier started shouting at each other, making both Seryn and Athelyn realize that this woman was on the run. From whom, they did not know, but hearing them just made the woman clutch onto the bundle more tightly to her chest.

The voices could be heard again from the woman's pursuers, but this time they were closer and clearer.

"We've lost her, my lord."

"Then find her, you imbecile! I know she is here somewhere…

The fear was written all over the woman's face, not realizing how close her pursuers were. She looked around frantically until her eyes landed on the snowberry shrub where Athelyn and Seryn got the alchemy ingredient before looking down at the bundle in her arms. Seryn wondered what was it that the woman was holding and was so adamant in protecting it from her pursuers. He looked to Athelyn and saw he was thinking the same thing, but he signaled Seryn to wait.

The woman got up from where she was and quietly walked over to the shrub before placing the bundle inside it. She moved the branches and leaves around in order to prevent anyone from seeing the bundle. Seryn had the thought to investigate what the woman left as soon as she and her pursuers were gone. The woman then got up and ran back the way she came, but as soon as she did, her pursuers spotted her.

"There she is!"

"After her!"

From where Athelyn and Seryn were hiding, they could see the woman run east and her pursuers followed behind not too long after. As they ran past the two Dunmer, the group never seeing them since they were hidden well in the dark and they were more focused on the woman, Seryn could feel rage run through his veins as he saw it was the Thalmor that was chasing the Nord woman, and all thoughts of investigating the bundle in the shrub went out of his mind.

Seryn knew full well what the Thalmor had been doing to Nords, just as every other person in Cyrodiil knew. He never did like Nords because of the way they treated him and his people and what they did to them in the past, but if there was any group he hated the most, it was the Thalmor. Even if he did not like Nords, he would not wish any harm done to them by the Thalmor. The Thalmor were notorious for torturing their victims before finally killing them.

As he saw the five Thalmor soldiers and a Thalmor Justiciar run after the Nord woman, he thought of what they would do to her once they got a hold of her, and Seryn could not help but think of his best friend Casien and what the Thalmor did to him. The thought of it just made him angrier, and his grip tightened on his ebony blades, imagining killing every last one of them for what they did to Casien. He got up and ran after them, but he was quickly stopped by Athelyn when he stepped in front of him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Do not be a fool, Seryn, there are too many for you to take on."

"You are the fool for not avenging your son!" Seryn exclaimed. "Would you not do the same if given the chance?"

"Killing the Thalmor in revenge won't bring Casien back," Athelyn responded.

"I don't care! Every one of those scum deserve to suffer for what they did to him. Casien would want us to avenge his death by wiping out Tamriel of all these Thalmor scum."

"You don't know what Casien would want."

Seryn just scoffs as if just pushing the older Dunmer's words aside, trying not to listen to him when in reality, he knew Athelyn's words of wisdom were true. Seryn did not truly know what Casien would want them to do, he was just speaking in anger, but he could not help the rage he felt towards the Thalmor for what they did to his best friend. He deserved better than what they did to him, as if he was nothing but mud under their feet.

When Athelyn saw that he was reasoning with Seryn, he tried reasoning with him further. "I understand how you feel, Seryn, Casien was my son and what the Thalmor did to him was unjustly," he said, his voice beginning to crack at the word 'my son' before recomposing himself. "I often thought of killing the Thalmor in revenge too, but I have a wife who needs me. She is still grieving over the loss of our child, I can't leave her for the sake of revenge. If you are going to wage war against the Thalmor, do it for a just cause, not in revenge, there is no honor in that."

Seryn, finally realizing how much danger he could have put him and Athelyn in danger, bowed his head in shame. He knew he would have been killed, and Athelyn too, if he went after the Thalmor, but his anger clouded his judgment. While he was a capable warrior, it would have been folly to take all six of them at one time. He should never have let his anger get the best of him, he was nearly three hundred years old, for Azura's sake!

It was then that a piercing cry interrupted Seryn's thoughts, and both Dunmer looked towards where the source of noise came from—the shrub where the Nord woman hid the bundle—and walked towards it. Athelyn was the first to approach it. Once he looked inside the shrub, he used a spell to light the area and is shocked by what he sees.

"Oh, by Azura…"

"What? What is it?"

Seryn came to Athelyn's side and looked into the shrub, expressing his surprise as well and realizing why the Thalmor were after the Nord woman. Inside was a Nord baby girl, but not just any Nord baby, a half Nord baby. The baby looked about 6-months-old with skin as pale as any Nord, but with short curly hair that was blonde. Its eyes were blue with emerald radial lines around the pupils, but what really stood out the most that made both Dunmer realize why the Thalmor were after the Nord woman was the elf ear tips on it.

This child was half mer, but whether it was half Altmer or Bosmer, they did not know. The Thalmor were obsessed with keeping the mer bloodline pure. If it was ever found out that an Altmer, or any mer for that matter, conceived with anybody who was not of their race, both of the parents would be killed before the child is even born. Unless the child was a product of rape, then it would just be the mother that would be killed. Was this child a product of rape, then? Or was it not? It was hard to tell, but both Dunmer men were thinking the child was a product of rape since most half-mer children—and there were very few of them today than in the past—were products of rape and had mothers who were raped by either an angry elf or by one of the Thalmor. There were rumors that went around during the Great War that when the Thalmor ransacked the White Gold Tower in the Imperial City, they committed all kinds of atrocities towards its citizens, including raping the women, and there were rumors flying around of them still doing it. Whether or not this was true, the Dunmer men did not know, but it was the only explanation they could think of that this child was living and her and her mother were being chased down by the Thalmor.

The child, who was most likely an orphan by now, had tears streaming down her face as she cried, trying to make a sound that sounded like "mama". Athelyn started to feel sympathy for the child, knowing that she was afraid and just wanted to be comforted by her mother. Her mother was now long gone, though, and so, he decided to step in the mother's place to comfort the child, at least for the time being. Picking the child up with her blanket wrapped around her, he held her in his arms, singing it a lullaby he once knew as a child to calm it down.

At first, the baby was scared and confused at who was holding her. This wasn't her guardian, and it scared her that this person who was holding her was possibly the same person who tried to hurt her and her guardian earlier, so she started to cry, trying her best to call out her guardian's name, but she struggled to say it. When she heard the stranger start to sing, though, she realized that he meant no harm and slowly ceased crying.

Athelyn almost sighed with relief when the baby started to stop crying. He was worried that the sound might attract the attention of the Thalmor and was glad that he was able to calm the child down. Now, her tears were just reduced to sniffling, and she was looking up at Athelyn with a curious yet cautious expression on her face. That made Athelyn smile as it reminded him of Casien when he was just the child's age, of how he would look at strangers with a curious expression yet always cautious, never quite trusting them until he got used to them.

"What are we going to do with it?" Seryn suddenly asked, bringing Athelyn out of his thoughts.

Athelyn gave him a look, confused at what he meant.

"What do you mean, 'what are we going to do with it'?"

"Well, we can't take it with us, but we can't just leave it here either. It will die if we do."

Here, Athelyn gives him a smirk and says in a teasing tone, "I did not know you had a certain fondness for Nords."

"Wha…? How could you…?" Seryn sputtered. "Of course I don't! You know very well how much I despise Nords!"

Athelyn chuckled. Seryn was always too easy to get riled up. "Peace, brother, I was only teasing," he said.

Seryn's face darkened, feeling embarrassed at getting worked up so easily by a mere tease, but quickly goes back to the original subject.

"So what are we going to do with it?"

Athelyn looked back down at the child, wondering what he should actually do as well. On the one hand, he could just leave it here. That would be the safest route to go for them: to just leave the child here for the Thalmor or other dangerous creatures to find her and kill her, but that would be wrong. He could not live with himself if he just let an innocent child, who knew nothing about the hatred between her own people and his, die all because of an old age hatred between their own races.

"We will take her back to Cheydinhal with us, and we will figure out what to do with her then," Athelyn. When he saw Seryn slouched in disappointment, he cocked an eyebrow and continued, "Unless you wish to just leave her here to die?"

Seryn was quick to defend himself. "No, of course not! I was just wondering if maybe it's best to take her to the Imperial City and see if the orphanage might take her in. I heard they opened up an orphanage after the Great War for children who lost their parents during the war."

"That place is crawling with Thalmor. If they are looking for a half Nord, half mer child, there will most likely be wanted signs for her all around the city. So no, taking her to the Imperial City is not the best course of action. Best thing to do is take her to Cheydinhal where the Thalmor are not guaranteed an hospitable experience."

As much as Seryn agreed with Athelyn, that taking the child to Cheydinhal was a much safer route, he wished there was some way they could just take it to an orphanage and just leave it there. It was not that he did not feel any sympathy for the child, he was just not a kid person and the fact that the child was half Nord and possibly half Altmer did not make it any better. He did not like Nords nor did he like Altmer, one race for how they treated his people in the present and past and the other for acting snobbish and thinking they were better than him. If he walked back into town with the child, he would certainly be the laughing stock of town for bringing a Nord into their community and most likely shunned, and no one would want to hire him as a mercenary. He is hoping the child would not stay longer than expected, but if it does, Melphala help him.

"Let's go," Athelyn commanded. "The Thalmor no doubt are on their way back to find the child by now, and we have to keep moving if we don't want them catching up with us."

Seryn sighed inwardly, wishing he could get that long waited rest like he originally wanted, but he tried remaining optimistic as he thought about being able to rest once he got to Cheydinhal. He followed after Athelyn all the way back to Cheydinhal and as they walked back, the baby started to cry, realizing that she would probably never see her mother again as they took her further and further away from the area.

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**A/N: Really sorry if this seemed very rush, it has been a LONG time since I last wrote a story, I will slow it down more, though, as the story progresses. And to give you an idea about how old Athelyn and Seryn are, Athelyn is about close to a thousand years old while Seryn is close to 300. I wasn't sure how the aging process of mer worked, even with doing research on it. All the details about how they aged were very vague, so I decided to go for more of the Tolkien elven aging process approach with still some of the Elder Scroll series elements to it. According to mer age, Athelyn is about mid-age and Seryn is about in his mid-20s, close to his 30s. If anyone who has extensive knowledge on any of the mer's aging process and wishes to correct me on their aging process, please go ahead because I am so clueless as to how it works.**

**To explain about Thalmor taking advantage of human women, I personally do not believe that Altmer are so disgusted by humans that they wouldn't even think of touching them and "sullying" themselves, as they claim to be. Maybe those who truly believe that they would dirty themselves just by touching a female human or male human, but I don't really necessary believe that. When I was reading on what the Thalmor did to the Imperial City when they ransacked it during the Great War, it was mentioned that they "committed all kinds of atrocities" towards the citizens of the Imperial City and I interpreted it as them doing more than just killing and ransacking the White-Gold Tower. However, I do not want to assume that is exactly what happened, so I just put the Thalmor taking advantage of human women as a rumor. If they do that, though, then I would personally agree with some writers in the Elder Scrolls fandom that they would probably use it as a torture tool than anything else.**

**Also, I prefer constructive criticism over flames, so I am going to ask nicely for no flames. Critique my story all you want, that is fine with me, but don't bash my story all because you don't like it. I just personally find flames disrespectful and I feel, for me, it will not help me become a better writer.**

**Thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed it. Have a good day!**


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